From Gray to Google: Learning within a Profession

In 1893, the first author’s grandfather wrote a little book with a big name: How to Teach Reading. The book cost 2 cents, postpaid, cheaper if you bought in quantities. Inside, this Illinois prairie teacher/principal/grandpa offered his two cents’ worth:

I have heard pupils read an entire selection and not have the vaguest idea of the theme-there was no mental picture imprinted in their minds, no idea, no moral, nothing elevating, in fact nothing gained except a slight drill in articulation.